Definitely Glad I didn't go there.

Kia ora Aotearoa

There once was a land down under,

The South Island of New Zealand, a wonder.

With mountains so grand,

And glaciers so grand,

A natural beauty that makes one ponder.

Travel is therapy.  A fact I had forgotten until I travelled again recently. To a place right next door, but seems like being on a different planet itself. 

The wonderful islands of New Zealand.

Now I might be biased with my limited time on the ground, but the South islands of NZ was awe inspiring. I was expecting to see geography and vegetation similar to what is found in Australia, so was shocked to see a place closer to Europe. This makes sense, the islands are further south, closer to the south pole, and that was having an influence on the weather down there. It was snowing around Queenstown, even as the ski season was coming to an end. And rocks and trees was unlike what is seen in the southern part of Australia.

It took a while to get used to the waves on the beach , on lake Tekapo. Yep, the lake is so large, largest in NZ, that it behaved like a small sea . There were constant waves on the shore , usually only seen at a proper sea-beach. And the water was super cool.